1. After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. They held back the earth’s four winds so that no wind would blow against the earth, the sea, or any tree.
2. I saw another angel coming up from the east, holding the seal of the living God. He cried out with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given the power to damage the earth and sea.
3. He said, "Don’t damage the earth, the sea, or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of those who serve our God."
4. Then I heard the number of those who were sealed: one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed from every tribe of the Israelites:
5. From the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand were sealed; from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand;
6. from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand; from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand;